


Stories that Might 
Have Been 


STUDIES OF 
BIBLE BOYS 
AND GIRLS 



n 


THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 
NEW YORK 


CINCINNATI 




Copyright, 1923 by 
Emma A. Robinson 




JUL25 ’23 


Printed in tbe United States of America 


GREETINGS TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS 

This book comes to you with the old, old stories that 
you know so well but I have tried to bring them to you in 
a new dress. As you see these boys and girls, you will 
realize that when God wanted someone to do a great piece 
of work he selected men or women who had been wor¬ 
shippers of Jehovah from the time they were children. 
Had you ever thought that Moses, after he was twelve years 
old, was taken away from his home and the worship of 
Jehovah and grew up where he was surrounded with idol 
worship ? Yet he was the boy or the man whom God chose 
to do the greatest work that any man could do, in leading 
the Children of Israel out of Egypt and making of them a 
great nation. 

Joseph, Daniel and Esther also had their only opportunity 
and training in the worship of God while they were Juniors. 

In the world today God is looking for boys and girls who 
have never wasted time by not belonging to Him, and when 
He wants leaders He is going to look for the boys and girls 
who today have found out that it is worth while to serve 
God now, to belong to His family and His church. 

This is an every day book. Read for yourself the story 
as given in the Day by Day references. 

An Honor Roll will be kept at the Central Office of those 
who do not miss a day in the reading, and who each week 
memorize the Memory Treasure from the Hymnal which 
tells the same story as the Bible Study. After reading the 
stories write your answers to the questions as given at the 
close of the chapter. 

Some of these you will have to think about pretty hard, 
but we are going to ask you to write answers to every one 
of them and to be ready to discuss them with the other 
boys and girls when you come to class. 

Of course you will see at once that these stories are not 
exactly as they are written in the Bible. I have tried to 
see these boys and girls just as I see you and to put into the 
stories the things that you and I would have seen, and to 
talk about them as you boys and girls today would talk, 
for those boys and girls may have talked in just that way. 

Your Miss Robinson. 


3 







CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Study I. The World’s Birthday. 5 

Study II. How To Make It Right.10 

Study III. Do It Now.14 

Study IV. You Can Count On Me .20 

Study V. The Honor Girl.25 

Study VI. Commissioned .29 

Study VII. Aye, Aye, Sir!.33 

Study VIII. Be Prepared .37 

Study IX. I Can Do It.43 

Study X. The Boy—and The Man.49 

Study XI. Tried and True.53 

Study XII. I Must ..57 


4 














STUDY I. 

THE WORLD’S BIRTHDAY 

“I DO not think much of that yarn we had to-day,” 
said Tim Nelson, as the boys gathered on George White’s 
porch after- the League meeting. 

“What yarn was that?” asked Bob. 

“Oh, that one about the world being created in six days,” 
replied Tim. 

“What’s the trouble with that?” asked Frank. 

“Trouble,” said Tim. “It isn’t true, that’s all.” 

“Not true,” said George, “it is in the Bible.” 

“That’s just it,” said Tim, “it is in the Bible, and yet we 
know from our science lessons that it took thousands of 
years just to make coal, and it must have taken most a 
million for that evolution business we had the other day.” 

“Whew!” exclaimed Fred Brown, “doesn’t he know a 
lot! But, really, that four thousand B. C. on the first page 
of the Bible is kind of queer, isn’t it?” 

“I agree with you about the four thousand years,” said 
George’s uncle, stepping out from behind the vines where 
he had been reading. 

“Why hello, Doctor Thompson,” exclaimed the boys in 
a chorus. “We did not know you were here.” 

“Yes, I came this morning,” answered Doctor Thompson, 
“and I overheard your conversation as I was reading.” 

“By the way, Tim, you believe there is a God, do you 
not ?” 

“I sure do,” answered Tim. 

“Well, then, do you believe that he could have created 
the world in six days if he had wanted to?” 

“Sure thing,” answered Frank, while Tim replied more 
slowly “I—suppose—so.” 

“Now,” said Doctor Thompson, “about that Genesis 
story. Tim says science proves that it cannot be true.” 

“Tim, what has science proved to us about the center 
of the earth?” 

“That it is a molten mass, a burning fluid,” answered Tim 
in the words of his schoolbook. 

5 


“Good!” replied the Doctor, “but did you know that 
scientists to-day are proving that the earth is solid all the 
way, through some radium theories they are working out? 

“And did you know that scientists, many of them are 
proving that the old theory of evolution, as we think about 
it, has no foundation? The true story of evolution put:; 
God in it, any way. Every one believes that there was a 
beginning some time and that God was the creator. 

“We believe what science proves to our reason, and that 
is good; but if we keep up to science, every little while we 
have to change our reasoning just as did those scientists 
who proved that the earth was flat. But to come back to 
the creation story. How long is a day?” 

“Twenty-four hours, of course,” answered Frank. 

“Is it?” asked the Doctor. “It seems to me I have read 
a good deal lately about an eight-hour day and a ten-hour day. 
And what did you mean a while ago, Tim, when you said 
you were going to have an auto of your own some day?” 

“Oh, I just meant,” said Tim, “that as soon as I get 
through school I am going to save my money and buy an 
auto.” 

“Then, your day simply meant time. 

“Now, Tim,” said Doctor Thompson, “can you find any 
place in the Genesis story where it tells how long the day 
might have been?” 

“No—o—,” said Tim. 

“I really do not see any reason,” said Doctor Thompson, 
“why each of those days might not have been a period of 
time—say five or ten million years. Do you? I do not 
know that they were, or were not—but, really, boys, I 
do not care, do you? I do not see that it makes any differ¬ 
ence. We have the world, and we have God, and we know 
that God made the world, somehow, in his own way, and 
that is enough for me. How about it, Tim?” 

“Oh, it is all right if you take it that way,” said Tim. 

“But I really think,” continued the Doctor, “that you are 
missing the point of the whole story.” 

“How so?” asked George. 

“There is one verse which says ‘God created man in his 
own image.’ ” 

“That is another fake,” said Tim. “How could a man be 
the image of God, when God is a Spirit?” 

6 


“If you mean that man looked like God, it would be 
impossible,” replied Doctor Thompson. “But suppose we 
change that word 'image’ into ‘like’—God made man ‘like’ 
himself. That is, he gave to man his ability to think things 
out for himself; to reason; draw his own conclusions, and 
make his own choices. How is that, Tim?” 

“That will pass,” said Tim. “Go on.” 

“Let us look at that world’s birthday party,” said Doctor 
Thompson. “What do we have?—birds, flowers, trees, 
animals, plenty of everything to eat. What more could 
anyone want? As God walked with Adam and Eve and 
talked with them he found something missing. He seems 
to have reasoned something like this: ‘Here I have made 
Adam and Eve like myself, but I have given them every¬ 
thing just as they want it, and they have no chance at all 
to prove that they have my power to reason and to decide. 
That is not fair to them.’ The next time he talked with 
them he said: ‘I have given you everything in this garden 
to do with just as you wish. It is all yours, except one tree. 
Of that you must not eat.’ Can you not imagine Adam 
replying, ‘Certainly, Lord, we will not eat of it, if that is 
your wish’? 

“Now, George, suppose you be Adam and let Tim be 
Eve, and let us see how you would talk about it at breakfast 
the next morning.” 

“ ‘Tim—I t seems queer about that tree. I wonder why 
we must not eat of it.’ 

“ ‘George —I do not see why the Lord should put that 
tree in the garden if we must not pick the fruit. What a 
queer name! “The knowledge of good and evil.” What 
is evil?’ 

“ ‘Tim —I think I will go and look at that tree. I do not 
remember what it looks like. Of course we will not touch 
it, but I would just like to see it.’ 

“ ‘George —It is in the center of the garden.’ 

“Later, as Eve looked at the tree she said to herself: 
‘What a splendid tree! That fruit looks as though it would 
taste fine.’ 

“Just then a voice said, ‘Why do you not eat it?’ 

“What was it that Eve called the voice, Frank?” 

“The Bible calls it a serpent,” answered Frank. 

“Yes: what was Eve’s reply, George?” 

7 


“God said we must not eat of that tree, but may eat of 
every other tree. I do not remember the exact words/’ 
answered George, “but that was what they meant.” 

“And the serpent, Tim?” 

“Oh, he told her to go ahead and eat, that it would make 
her wise—as wise as God.” 

“Yes, and Eve looked at the fruit, thought about it, 
wanted it, and took it. That is the way Doctor George said 
it once and I always remember it,” said Frank. 

“Suppose Adam and Eve had not eaten of the fruit of 
the tree, Frank, what would have happened?” 

“My! I do not know,” said Frank. “It would have been 
a different world wouldn’t it if they had chosen to obey 
instead of to disobey?” mused Tim. 

“Just one thing more,” said Doctor Thompson. “Did 
God leave them when they proved that they could do as 
they pleased and disobeyed him?” 

“No,” said George, “I do not believe so; he drove them 
out of Eden, and they had to work hard, but he gave them 
another chance.” 


Day by Day 

The World’s Birthday—Gen. 1. 1-11. 

The World’s Birthday (Continued)—Gen. 1.20-25. 

The Birthday of the First People and God’s Gift to them—Gen. 
1.26-31. 

The First Sabbath—Gen. 2.1-2. 

The First Home—Gen. 2.8-17. 

The Great Opportunity—Gen. 3.1-4. 

The First Home Lost—Gen. 3.4-24. 

I Believe 

In God. 

That in the beginning he created. 

That he made us like himself. 

That I can do right, but that I also can do wrong because I have 
the power to choose. 

Do You? 


Can You 

Name the order of things created? 


8 


How Do You Know 

That Cod did riot forsake Adam and Eve after they disobeyed 
him? 




Memory Treasure 

The spacious firmament on high, 

With all the blue ethereal sky, 

And spangled heavens a shining frame, 

Their great Original proclaim, 

The unwearied sun, from day to day, 

Does his Creator's power display, 

And publishes to every land 
The work of an almighty hand. 

—Methodist Hymnal, 84 


9 


STUDY II. 

HOW TO MAKE IT RIGHT 

“THAT wood won’t burn. It is too wet,” said Cain as 
he and Abel stood watching their father arrange a fire on 
top of a pile of stones near the tent which was their home. 
I suppose you would call it a ranch. 

There were many cattle, and thousands of sheep, and 
fields of grain. Scattered about were the tents of the family 
and of those who cared for the flocks and the fields. 

Yonder were the wells, and on the hillside was the fold 
for the sheep. 

Over the hills every night came the shepherds with the 
sheep, and early every morning they went out again in search 
of grass. 

Not far from the home tent of Adam and Eve was a 
rough pile of stones. Here the boys, Cain and Abel, had 
many times watched their father as he built a fire and 
burned up some of the finest of his sheep and the best of 
his grain. 

Again he was preparing to offer a sacrifice as Cain 
uttered these words. 

“Yes,” said Abel, “it will burn. It always does.” 

“But why, father, did you take that beautiful white lamb? 
It was the very finest in the whole flock.” 

“My son,” replied Adam, “do you not remember the 
story your mother and I have told you so often, of how 
when you boys were babies, God often walked and talked 
with us when we lived in the garden of Eden ?” 

“Yes,” answered Cain, “I remember the story, and of 
how, because you ate of the fruit which God said you must 
not eat, we had to move away from Eden.” 

“I do not remember much about Eden,” said Abel, “only 
all the fruit, and how sad mother was when we came away.” 

“You have told us a good many times, father, about this 
fire, but somehow I do not understand it,” said Abel. 

“It is this way, my son: I have disobeyed and dishonored 
God. Every time you boys disobey your mother or me, of 
do wrong, you are disobeying God. 

10 


“Your mother and I do not disown you when you dis¬ 
obey us, so God did not disown us when we disobeyed him. 

“Abel, why did you bring those roses to your mother 
yesterday? You picked out the very largest and best ones/’ 

“Oh, that was just to tell her that I loved her.” 

“But did she not know that you loved her?” asked the 
father. 

“Oh, I guess so, but she liked the roses,” laughed Abel. 

“True,” answered the father; “but what about that water 
jar that Abimelech broke? He could not give it back to 
your mother, but he worked hard and made her the very 
best jar he could. Why did he do that?” 

“He said it was to tell her that he was sorry he had been 
so careless and had broken the jar,” said Cain. 

“Now, listen and see if you can get this,” said Adam. “We 
love God very; very much. Back there in Eden he knew it 
because we had never done anything wrong and he visited 
us and talked with us. When we disobeyed him, it was 
as though we built a wall between us.” 

“You mean he is here, but we cannot see him?” asked 
Abel. 

“Yes,” replied his father, “and he has told us that when 
we bring our offering to him it says to him just what Abel's 
roses said to mother. It means we love him. 

“But it also does what Abimelech’s jar did—it says, ‘I am 
sorry I have done wrong or have sinned and will try to be 
more careful.’ ” 

“But why burn it, father? It does not do anyone any 
good that way.” 

“True, my son, but that seems to be the only way to give 
it to God. It would not be giving it to him if we used it, 
and it would not be giving it to him if we let it spoil. It is 
God’s way for us to worship him.” 

“But why choose that fine lamb ?” asked Cain; “that little 
lame one would do just as well to burn, and it will never 
be of any account.” 

“You have answered your own question,” answered Adam. 
“Would you want to offer to God, to show your love to 
him, or to ask his forgiveness, that which was of no account? 
You would not offer such a gift to mother or to me.” 

These boys grew up. This is all we really and truly 
know about them, except that one decided to be a farmer 
and the other a shepherd. 


11 


Then comes the story of their offering to God, which 
gives us a true picture of them as boys. 

Abel gathered the finest of the roses for mother because 
he loved her. 

Cain asked, “Why did you not offer to God the lame lamb 
that was of no account?” 

Did Cain bring that kind of an offering? 

No, indeed; so far as we know he brought of the finest of 
his grain, just as Abel brought of the best of his flock. 

What then? 

The story says Abel’s offering was accepted and Cain’s 
was not. 

Why? What was the trouble? God himself answered 
this question. 

He said: “Cain, if you do right, your offering will be 
accepted, but if you let wrong wishes and wrong thoughts 
into your minds, they will cause you to sin. Do not let them 
rule over you.” 

Not the kind of an offering, not even the quality of the 
offering, but the man back of it. 

Cain, there is no use in your joining the church and 
wearing the name of Christian, if you are going to train 
with sin and entertain wrong thoughts. 

Be sincere, and your offering, if it means love and wor¬ 
ship, will be acceptable to God. 

Abel did not have a chance to prove that it was worth 
while to be true and honest in his dealings with God; but 
who do you think really lived the longer, Cain or Abel? 

Abel finished the work God had for him to do. Cain 
never did, though he lived many years. 


Day by Day 

The Two Boys—Gen. 4.1-2. 

The Offering—Gen. 4.3-5. 

God’s Explanation—4.6-7. 

The New Testament Explanation—Heb. 11.4; I John 3.12. 
The Story of Cain and Abel—Gen. 4.7-12. 

Cain’s Life—Gen. 4.13,14,15. 

God’s Plan Today—Heb. 11.8-10. 


12 


I Think 


Abel’s great work for God was to teach the meaning of true 
worship. 


Do You? 


I Would Rather 

Live a few years, free from fear, because I was sincere with 
God, than to live a long life always afraid. 

Would Yout 


Could 

The story of Cain’s life have been different? 


How? 


Memory Treasure 
Arise, my soul, arise: 

Shake off thy guilty fears; 

The bleeding Sacrifice 
In my behalf appears; 

Before the throne my Surety stands, 

Before the throne my Surety stands, 

My name is written on his hands. 

—Methodist Hymnal t 301 


13 


STUDY III. 

DO IT NOW 

TWINS, and both boys! What fun! 

Did they look alike? Not one bit. 

Were they alike? Not so you could see it. 

Esau, who arrived in the world just a few moments ahead 
of his brother, grew to be a regular out-of-door boy, strong 
and muscular, tanned to a ruddy brown, always on the go. 
He was full of fun and never thought about the end just 
so he had a good time now. 

Jacob was just the opposite. He was an “in-the-house 
boy,” the kind that would like to read rather than play ball. 
His skin was white and his hands soft and smooth. In his 
eye was a shrewd look that said “He is scheming to get 
ahead of some one.” He was always trading, and, of course, 
always came out ahead. 

Esau was his father’s (Isaac’s) boy, while Jacob was the 
favorite and spoiled son of Rebecca, his mother. 

Watch these boys as they play. Jacob stands just in front 
of the base instead of on it. See him “put one over” on 
Esau every time he has a chance, but Esau does not care. 

As big boys Esau is off in the field or hunting, while Jacob 
is around the house. 

The two grow up—Esau becomes a hunter, or we might 
say a woodsman; Jacob, a farmer. But they are just the 
same Esau and Jacob. 

In that time it was a great thing to be the oldest son, foi 
what was called the birthright of the oldest gave him not 
only the greater part of his father’s property but gave him 
his father’s blessing also, and this was considered of greater 
value even than the property. 

The birthright belonged to Esau, but Jacob wanted it. Of 
course he did, and he made up his mind to have it. His 
mother wanted him to have it too. 

He knew how little Esau thought of it, so he waited his 
time. 

When they were young men Esau was off on a hunting 
expedition. Jacob knew how hungry he would be when he 

14 


came home, so he prepared the best meal he knew how to 
cook—Esau’s favorite pottage. How good it smelled! It 
fairly made one’s mouth water to just catch a whiff of it. 

Esau came, tired, hungry, but jolly. As he neared Jacob’s 
tent he caught a familiar odor. Oh, how good it smelled! 
Pottage—that was what he wanted! He could hardly wait. 

“Jacob,” he called, “here’s a hungry man. Feed me, 
please, from your good red pottage.” 

“What is your hurry?” asked Jacob. 

“I am faint with hunger,” said Esau. “Give me quickly 
of that pottage.” 

“Wait!” said Jacob. “What will you give me for it? 
Will you sell me your birthright?” 

“Birthright?” said Esau. “What good will a birthright 
do me if I die of hunger? I want something to eat now, 
quick, before I die.” 

“Will you swear to give me your birthright?” asked 
Jacob, fearing that when Esau’s hunger was satisfied he 
would take back the birthright. 

“Yes,” said Esau, “I swear—anything to get something to 
eat.” 

And so he carelessly sold his birthright for a mess of 
pottage. He was the boy who thought only of what he 
wanted now. 

Even then Jacob and his mother were not satisfied, for 
while Jacob had the birthright he wanted all. He just must 
have that blessing of his father that belonged to the first¬ 
born. 

But how could he get it? There was no way unless he 
could outwit his father. Again he waited. 

Isaac was old and nearly blind. One morning Rebecca 
overheard him call Esau. She listened. 

“My son,” called Isaac. 

“Here am I,” answered Esau. 

“I am getting old,” said Isaac, “I do not know how much 
longer I will live. Take your bow and arrows and go into 
the field. Take me venison and make me savory food, such 
as I love. When you bring it to me I will eat and give you 
my blessing.” 

Esau started for the field, but Rebecca called Jacob. 

“Hurry,” she said. “Kill a young calf and make the 
savory food that your father likes and bring to him.” 

“But he will know I am not Esau,” said Jacob. 

15 


“Obey me,” said Rebecca, “and we will take care of that.” 

Quickly Jacob returned with the meat. While it was 
cooking his mother stretched the soft, hairy skin of a kid 
over his neck and on his hands, that they might feel like 
Esau’s hands, as she had him practice talking just like Esau. 
He then put on a suit of Esau’s clothes that smelled of the 
fields, and, taking the savory meat, he went to his father. 

As he came near him he said, “My father,” just as Esau 
would have said it. 

“Who art thou?” asked Isaac who did not expect Esau 
back so soon. 

“I am Esau, your firstborn,” answered Jacob. “I have 
brought you the food you desired. Will you not sit and 
eat, and give to me your blessing?” 

“How could you get back so soon?” asked Isaac. 

“Because Jehovah helped me find the deer quickly,” 
answered Jacob. 

Isaac seemed to be a little suspicious. Perhaps Jacob had 
not practiced Esau’s voice and tone enough, for he said, 
“Come nearer, that I may feel you and be sure you are my 
son Esau.” 

After passing his hands over him he said: “The voice 
is Jacob’s but the hands are the hands of Esau. Art thou 
my very son, Esau?” 

“I am,” answered Jacob, and Isaac placed his hands on 
his head and gave him the blessing that he intended to give 
Esau, his firstborn. 

Almost before Jacob was out of the room Esau came in. 
He too said: 

“I have brought you the savory meat. Will you not eat 
it that you may bless me ?” 

“Who are you?” cried Isaac. 

“I am your son Esau, your firstborn,” was the answer. 

Isaac trembled so that he could scarcely stand as he cried 
out: “Have I been deceived ? Who was it brought me the 
venison if it was not my son Esau? I have given him the 
blessing and I cannot take it from him.” 

“Oh, my father,” cried Esau, “can you not bless me also?” 

“Your brother,” explained Isaac, “came claiming to be 
you, and I have given him your blessing.” 

“His name, Jacob, the supplanter, certainly fits him,” said 
Esau, bitterly. “This is the second time he has supplanted 
me. First he took away my birthright, and now he has 

16 


taken my blessing. But have you not a blessing for me 
also?” 

“I have given to him everything that belongs to the first¬ 
born,” said Isaac. 

“Have you not just one blessing for me, father?” pleaded 
Esau. 

“Bless me, father, even me!” 

Then Isaac gave to him a blessing also, but it was the 
blessing of a younger son. 

From that time trouble began for Jacob. Esau hated 
him, and Jacob lived in constant fear. Of what use was the 
birthright or blessing when any minute Esau might kill him? 

Rebecca too saw nothing ahead for Jacob but trouble. 

How could she live without her favorite son, Jacob? It 
would be better to have him alive, though she might never 
see him again, so she sent him away, to her brother Laban 
at Padan-aram. 

It was a long and lonely journey. 

As he traveled Jacob must have thought, and God must 
have talked to him about the boy he had been, about the 
man he was. 

Was it worth while? 

Then came the night, when, all alone, with a stone for a 
pillow, he slept under the stars. 

The dream came. He saw the ladder reaching to heaven 
and the angels. 

He said, “Surely God is in this place; I did not know he 
would follow me.” 

He knew God was there. God had talked to him. He 
may even have made up his mind that he had certainly lost 
out by cheating and deceiving, but the same old Jacob was 
there, for, even in acknowledging that that place was the 
house of God, he tried to make a bargain with God as he 
said, “If Jehovah will take care of me and bring me back 
to this place, I will give him a tenth of my goods.” 

He would follow Jehovah, but in his own way. 

When he reached Padan-aram he met his match. He 
was cheated and cheated and cheated, ten times, through 
the fourteen years, until he hated the very suggestion of 
cheating, but before Jacob came to this point he showed his 
uncle that he too knew all the tricks of cheating. 

As the years went by, Jacob longed to go back home, but 

17 


always there was the fear of the brother whom he had 
cheated and the lies which he had told his father. 

Had God forgotten Jacob? No, but Jacob was very slow 
in getting fully acquainted with God, and the years were 
flying. 

At last Jacob started for home. It was the Jacob who 
wanted the best of everything, who said: “When I crossed 
this brook I had just my staff. Now I am rich and the 
owner of two bands of flocks and many servants.” 

It was the old Jacob who was afraid all the time—every 
day—of Esau. 

As he started for home he sent great flocks of cattle ahead 
as a gift to Esau. 

His messengers returned, saying, “Esau and his men 
come to meet you.” Jacob was more afraid than ever. He 
sent the women and children ahead, to protect them. 

Everyone had gone. As on that night when he saw the 
ladder and the angels he was alone with God. All these 
years he had known God but had refused to listen to him. 

This night he was afraid. All night he and God were 
together. No one knows just how God spoke to him, but 
after so many years of being Jacob, it was hard for him to 
give up and be what God wanted him to be. 

As the sun rose Jacob again asked for a blessing. This 
time he was honest and sincere as he asked God to bless 
him. 

God in his blessing did not give him honor, nor power, 
nor money. These were what Isaac had promised him, but 
Isaac’s blessing had done him no good, for he had had to 
run away from it. 

God’s blessing was, “Thy name shall be called no more 
Jacob—the supplanter—but Israel, the Prince of God.” 

The old Jacob was gone forever, and with him the long 
years he might have served God. 

The new Israel could never make up for the lost years, 
but for the rest of his life would serve as a Prince of God. 

Day by Day 

The Story of the Birthright—Gen. 25.27-34. 

Trying to Run Away From Fear—Gen. 27.41-43; 28.10. 

The Story of the Ladder—Gen. 28.11-13; 15-22. 

Jacob’s Prayer—Gen. 32.9-12. 

The Answer—Gen. 33.4, 8, 9,11. 

Jacob’s Blessing—Gen. 32.22-30. 

Jacob’s Blessing—Gen. 35.9-15. 

18 


Can You Tell 

The Story of Jacob’s Dream? 

Where Padan-aram is on the Map? 

The Name of Jacob’s wife? 

Whether he Kept His Promise to Give God the Tenth? 

/ Can 


Think About It 

“Save a man and you save a life, 

Save a boy and you save a life time.” 
Why does this make you think of Jacob? 




Memory Treasure 

O happy day, that fixed my choice 
On thee, my Saviour and my God! 

Well may this glowing heart rejoice, 

And tell its raptures all abroad. 

Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away; 

He taught me how to watch and pray, 

And live rejoicing every day. 

Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. 

—Methodist Hymnal, 312 


19 


STUDY IV. 

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME 

It was an odd procession that wound slowly along the 
dusty highway from Egypt to Canaan. 

In the lead were ten men, shepherds, as their short brown 
coats, coming only to their knees and without sleeves, proved. 
Each had his sack of grain on the back of a donkey. The 
famine in their own land had sent them to Egypt to buy 
corn and they were nearing home. 

Back of them came ten donkeys loaded with the fruits 
and good things of Egypt and ten others with corn and bread 
and meat. Following them came empty baggage and trans¬ 
port wagons, all of Egyptian make. 

Somewhere in that procession might also be found new 
suits of fine clothes, very best clothes for great occasions. 
A full suit for each except the youngest man, and five 
especially grand ones for him. 

It had been a long, hard journey. The mules were dusty 
and tired, but not so the men. They were excited and in 
a hurry, and you could catch such exclamations as: 

“Isn’t it wonderful!” 

“How happy our father will be!” 

“He will hardly be able to believe it.” 

“He will not know us when he sees this procession.” 

Then, more soberly: “We will have to tell him how we 
put our brother down intoi that bottle-shaped well, where 
he could not get out and were going to leave him if those 
Egyptian traders had not come along.” 

“Oh, but he will forgive even our lie about Joseph’s coat 
when he knows that Joseph is alive.” 

All this was new to Benjamin, the youngest of the 
brothers, and he had many questions to ask. 

If this were a movie, this picture would dissolve or melt 
into another, and we would see an old man. 

He stands with his hand shading his eyes looking into 
the distance. 

“They have been gone many days,” he says to himself. 
“They ought to be home. I fear something has happened 
to Benjamin.” 

20 


As he stands there, looking, another picture, one of those 
dream pictures which he sees, comes before us. This time 
it is of a beautiful young Jewish girl with a little boy beside 
her, and the old man muses, “Rachel, my beloved is gone.” 
The picture changes and in its place stands a ruddy boy clad 
in the coat of honor reaching to his ankles, and with long 
sleeves, the coat of many colors. 

“The wild beasts devoured Joseph my best-loved son; 
my boy who was so true to Jehovah, and now, if anything 
happens to Benjamin, the baby of my Rachel and the child 
of my old age, my heart will break. Those older boys 
talked too much. Why did they tell the Egyptian ruler 
anything about Benjamin, and why would he not sell them 
more corn unless Benjamin went with them? Some harm 
will come to him, I know.” 

Suddenly he saw a cloud of dust in the distance. He ran 
toward it, then stopped in disappointment. “It is not my 
boys. It must be a caravan going north—But that does look 
like Reuben ahead. No, it cannot be, for see all those mules 
and wagons.” Sadly he turned back when a shout reached 
his ears. 

“Father, father!” came the call, and he waited. 

“Yes, it is my sons, and Benjamin is there 1” He hastened 
to embrace Reuben. 

“But what are all these?” he asked, turning to the mules 
and their drivers. 

“Wait, father; we have a great story to tell.” 

“We have found Joseph!” cried out Benjamin. “The 
beasts did not kill him. My brothers sold him into Egypt! 
God has been with him! He is the ruler!” 

“Joseph not dead? My son Joseph alive?” said Jacob 
in bewilderment. 

“Wait, father, we will tell you all,” said Judah as they 
walked toward the tent home. 

“You remember we told you how fine-looking the ruler 
was and how kind he was to us the last time ? He treated 
us the same way this time. He took us to his own house to 
dinner.” 

“It was a wonderful place,” said Gad. “It was surrounded 
with great walls and from high poles at the corners floated 
gay streamers. In the yard were trees and flowers of all 
kinds and most beautiful. Beyond this was a great mansion 
furnished with magnificent couches and sofas in beautiful 

21 


colors, with carved tables and sideboards and wonderful 
drinking vessels.” 

“But tell me about Joseph, my son,” interrupted Jacob. 

“Yes,” said Reuben, “we were taken to this wonderful 
home and told that we were to have dinner with the ruler.” 

“When we entered the dining room it was more wonderful 
than anything we had ever seen. Fine linens, glass, silver, 
tapestries, palms, and flowers. The ruler sat at a table by 
himself. At another table sat many Egyptians and we were 
seated at a third table. Many servants served us and the 
ruler sent delicacies from his own table to us.” 

“But Joseph?” asked Jacob. “What about Joseph?” 

‘Til tell you, father,” said Benjamin. 

“We started back home and had gone but a little way 
when servants of the ruler overtook us saying that we had 
stolen the king’s silver cup.” 

“Of course we hadn’t,” interrupted Simeon, “and we 
told them so, and opened our bags to show them—and would 
you believe it?—there was the cup in the top of Benjamin’s 
sack.” 

“We all told them that Benjamin did not take it,” said 
Simeon, “but they made us go back.” 

“The ruler asked all about me,” said Benjamin, “and then 
said, as I had stolen the cup, he would keep me as his 
prisoner. My brothers were fine, father. They told him 
how much you loved me, and what you had said about 
Joseph being torn to pieces by a wild animal, and that it 
would almost kill you if I did not come back. And, father, 
Judah begged to be made a prisoner in my place. 

“Then, father, the ruler sent every one but us out of the 
room, and we were frightened, for we did not know what 
was going to happen. And, father, that great ruler began to 
cry. He could hardly talk, but oh, father, he said: ‘I am 
Joseph, your brother. Does my father still live?’ ” 

“We were so afraid,” said Gad, “that we could not answer 
him, for, father, the wild beast did not devour him. We 
sold him to a company of traders and dipped the coat in 
blood to deceive you.” 

“But,” interrupted Simeon, “Joseph said: ‘Come near; 
I am your brother that you sold into Egypt. Do not be 
angry or grieved with yourselves, for while you meant evil, 
God sent me down here to preserve your lives.’ ” 

22 


“He told us,” said Reuben, “how God had been with him 
all the time and how, because God had been with him, he 
had always, even when he first went down to Egypt and 
was only a boy, been able to do good work so that his own¬ 
ers trusted and honored him.” 

“Finally,” said Judah, “the king heard about him and 
sent to the prison for him to come and interpret a dream 
that the wise men could not interpret. 

“Of course Joseph had to take time to bathe, shave hi§ 
entire body from head to foot, and be attired in perfectly 
fresh, clean clothes before he could go into the presence 
of the king. Even then he was only a slave, and if the king 
was not pleased with him, he could order him put to death 
at once.” 

“But God was with him,” interrupted Benjamin, “and it 
was all right, for he not only told him the interpretation of 
the dream, which prophesied about this famine, but sug¬ 
gested how during the years of plenty, enough corn might be 
saved to feed the people all through the famine.” 

“The king was pleased,” said Dan, “and made him ruler 
next in power to himself. He gave him the signet ring from 
his own hand, dressed him in fine linen, and put a gold chain 
about his neck. The second gold chariot became his and 
he is the greatest man in Egypt next to the king.” 

“The moon and the sun and the stars bowed down to 
him,” mused Jacob. “Do you remember his dream that 
made you so angry, my sons ?” 

“Joseph said it was the God whom he had learned to 
serve when he was a boy at home, that had given him all 
this honor and wisdom,” said Reuben. 

“But, oh, father, he wants to see you,” exclaimed Ben¬ 
jamin. “He has sent you all of these gifts,” waving his 
hand to the mule train, “and wagons to carry our goods, 
and everything. He told us to hurry and bring you to him.” 

“He says,” explained Judah, “that there will still be five 
years of famine and asks that you will move to Egypt, where 
you can have plenty for both the family and the cattle. He 
will give you land and a home.” 

At first Jacob could scarcely believe that Joseph was still 
alive, but as they finished and he saw the wagons and the 
gifts he said: “It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive. I will 
go and see him before I die.” 

23 


And Joseph prepared a home for his father’s family and 
flocks in the land of Goshen, where they might worship 
Jehovah and become a great people. 

Day by Day 

Joseph and His Family—Gen. 37.1-11. 

A Boy to Be Depended on—Gen. 37.12-17. 

Untrue Brothers—Gen. 37.18-34. 

God Was With Him—Gen. 39.1-6. 

The Secret of Success—Gen. 39.20-33. 

Faithfulness Honored—Gen. 41.38-44. 

A Man on Whom God Could Count—Gen. 45.4-13. 

I Know 

The story of how Joseph was sold into Egypt and about how old 
he was. 

Why Joseph could always be depended upon. 

When he learned to trust and obey God. 

How many times the Bible says God was with him. 

How the silver cup got into Benjamin’s bag. 

Where in Egypt Joseph found a home for his father and brothers. 
Do You? 


Think About It 

Which was the wiser and greater man, Jacob or Joseph? 
Why? 


Memory Treasure 

“Fear not, I am with thee, O, be not dismayed, 

For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; 

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.” 

—Methodist Hymnal, 461 


24 


study V. 

THE HONOR GIRL 

“She is some girl!” 

“Who?” 

“That girl Miriam they were telling about.” 

“Why?” 

“Where have you been? That girl had her wits about 
her, I tell you.” 

“Here, Ethel, you tell Jim that story. He must have been 
asleep.” 

“I thought it was that same old story about Moses,” said 
Jim, “I know that story by heart; could tell it in my sleep, 
so I did not listen, I was figuring on my new radio set.” 

“It was the story of Moses,” said Ethel, “only it was the 
other side of the story.” 

“The other side of the story? What do you mean?” 
asked Jim. 

“There was a girl in that family too. Did you know that, 
Jim?” 

“A girl, oh, yes, I do remember something about Moses’ 
sister. I never thought of her as a girl, just Moses’ sister.” 

“Well, if that isn’t like a boy,” exclaimed Ethel. “I have 
a good mind not to tell you one word.” 

“She sure was a girl,” chimed in Mary, “and she had a 
name—I do not believe Jim knows what it was. Do you 
Jim?” 

“Guilty!” said Jim, “What shall it be? Chocolates?” 

“Really,” said Elizabeth, “I myself had never thought 
much about Miriam before.” 

“Suppose we give Jim a composite picture. It would be 
most like a game,” said Helen. “Two minutes to think 
and then each will be ready with one feature for the 
picture.” 

“Time’s up,” called Ethel. “Who first?” 

“She was a girl,” announced Jim. 

“Name, Miriam,” said Frank. 

“Belonged to a Hebrew family in the time of the wicked 
Pharaoh,” from Helen. 


' 25 


“Had a baby brother/’ added Mary. 

“Loved him,” said Ethel. 

“Helped her mother hide him from the soldiers,” said 
Frank. 

“Watched her make a basket for him—” 

“Went with her mother to put the basket in the river—” 

“Stayed to watch the basket,” came in quick succession. 

“Was trusted by her mother not to tell anyone the baby 
was there,” contributed Esther. 

“Saw the princess coming,” said Frank. 

“Yes, and had sense enough to stay where she was and 
not run to tell her mother,” said George. 

“Hoped the princess would not see the baby,” said Ethel. 

“But acted as though she didn’t care when the princess 
found him, instead of crying and giving the whole thing 
away,” continued George, who had been the one to bring 
up the story of Miriam. 

“I know she just wanted to tell the princess that the baby 
was her brother and that she, the princess, could not have 
him,” said Helen. 

“Did not run for her mother even then, but acted as a 
stranger would when the princess let her see the baby,” 
said George. 

“My! but that must have been hard work,” said Ethel. 

“Yes,” said George, “but she was thinking mighty fast. 
I tell you a girl that could just in a minute think of such a 
sensible thing to do had her wits about her.” 

“Hold on, George, you are getting ahead of the picture,” 
said Jim. 

“What did she do? Why she just piped up cool as you 
please, and asked the princess if she should go and End a 
nurse for the baby among the Hebrew women,” answered 
George. 

“I do not believe I could have walked off as though 
nothing had happened,” said Helen. 

“Maybe she didn’t. She was quick-witted enough to have 
said, ‘I’ll run just as fast as I can and find one for you,’ ” 
said George with the air of one who had proved his point. 

“Well, she was some girl,” said Jim. “Is our picture 
finished?” 

“Not quite,” said Helen. “She was some girl, as George 
said, but I can see her when she gets in the house out of 
sight. I know she fairly flew to her mother and hugged 

26 


and hugged her she was so happy, as she said, ‘Come quick, 
mother, and get our baby/ ” 

“That all ?” asked Jim. “Then we must name her. What 
shall we call her, George?” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” said George, “but Miss Ellis said 
something we have all left out.” 

“What was that?” asked Jim. 

“I dun’no,” answered George, “only something about 
Miriam just helping take care of the baby. You tell, Helen.” 

“We did forget that part, didn’t we,” said Helen. 

“Miss Ellis said that the Hebrew mother was sure that in 
some way God would keep the baby safe from the soldiers 
and she knew that he would help Miriam watch him. Miriam 
was simply helping God take care of the baby. If Miriam 
had failed, God’s plan would have been spoiled and he 
would have had to find another one.” 

“Yes,” said Ethel, “and she said if Miriam had not done 
her part, the part God showed her how to do, she would 
not have had the honor of helping God as she did.” 

“There’s her name,” exclaimed George, “The Honor 
Girl.” 

“Good! How many vote for ‘The Honor Girl’ ?” 

“Aye, Aye, Aye,” said one after another. 

“We do not hear much about Miriam after she was grown 
up, do we?” asked Frank. 

“She was called a prophetess,” said Helen, “and must 
have been a leader at least of the women, for at the crossing 
of the Red Sea after Moses and the people had sung their 
song the Bible says, ‘And Miriam the prophetess, the sister 
of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women 
went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And 
Miriam answered them, 

‘Sing ye to Jehovah, for he hath triumphed gloriously; 

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.’ ” 

Day by Day 

A Quick-Witted Sister—Exod. 2.1-9. 

A Faithful Ally—Exod. 15.20-21. 

Jealousy—Num. 12.1-3. 

Miriam’s Punishment—Num. 12 ; 4-10. 

Miriam Forgiven—Num. 12.10-15. 

One of the Three—Micah 6.4. 

27 


I Think 


Miriam must have asked God what to do when she saw the 
princess with the baby. 


Do You f 


I Know 

In what country Miriam lived. 

The name of a king whose tomb has recently been discovered in 
that country. 

Do You? 


For Discussion 

Could Miriam have run off and left the baby when she saw the 
princess coming? 


Memory Treasure 

He leadeth me! O, blessed thought! 

O, words with heavenly comfort fraught! 

Whate’er I do, where’er I be, 

Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me. 

—Methodist Hymnal, 489 


28 


STUDY VI. 

COMMISSIONED 

“How wonderful he is!” said Joshua as he and Caleb, 
bearing between them the great bunch of grapes from He¬ 
bron, approached the camp of the children of Israel in the 
wilderness. 

“Yes,” answered Caleb, “God certainly made no mistake 
in his choice of our leader.” 

“He is the greatest man in the world,” exclaimed Joshua. 
“Will you ever forget how his face shone when he came 
down after talking with Jehovah on Mount Sinai? And 
he did not know it at all till we told him. I do not believe 
he even thought what an honor it was to be chosen to talk 
to God as he did.” 

“That proves what God thinks of our leader,” replied 
Caleb. “He is the only man since our first parents with 
whom God has spoken face to face.” 

“How marvelous he was that day he brought the message 
that if we would obey his voice Jehovah himself would be 
our King and we would be his people. The message would 
not have sounded the same if anyone else had given it,” 
declared Joshua. 

“It does not seem possible,” said Caleb, “that such a man 
could have grown up in the court of Pharaoh.” 

“My father was inside the palace grounds once. He said 
the palace was like a small town in size, and the grounds 
where our leader played as a boy had been laid out to make 
them look like a great velvet carpet on which the house was 
set. The trees, flowers, and little streams were so arranged 
as to make a regular pattern in many colors. It took hun¬ 
dreds of gardners to care for it.” 

“Yes, and think of living in those rooms which belonged 
to his adopted mother Thermorethis,” said Joshua. 

“The carpets were of sky-blue and silver brocade and 
the coverings for the chairs and seats were richly embroid¬ 
ered with feathers. Magnificent plants stood on carved 
stands. It would be impossible to tell all of its wonders, 
but they say the image of the household god was very rich 
and beautiful.” 


29 


“How could a boy from such a home be such a man?” 
mused Caleb. 

“I have often wondered,” said Joshua, “what that great 
university which he attended was like.” 

“They say there were twenty thousand books in the 
library,” said Caleb, “but he could not have read all of 
them.” 

“All that makes it more wonderful that he should be such 
a leader and our leader,” said Joshua. “How could he 
leave such a life? You know it is reported that he said he 
would rather be a door-keeper in the house of his God 
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” 

“All the time he lived in the court of Pharaoh he seems 
to have remembered that he was an Hebrew and to have 
been angry at the way Pharaoh treated us,” said Caleb. 

“How could he help it with such a mother as Jochebed? 
She certainly lived up to her name—‘Whose-glory-is-the 
Lord.’ What a great name! He certainly learned to love 
Jehovah and the Hebrew people while he was in his own 
home, so that not even all the wonders of Pharaoh’s court 
could make him forget.” 

“Those were the days that made him,” said Caleb. 

“It was a fine thing that Jochebed had heard how the life 
of great king Sargon had been saved by his mother, who 
placed him in an ark of bulrushes, lined with asphalt bitu- 
min and then placed the ark in the river.” 

“Even then his life might not have been saved,” replied 
Joshua, “had it not been for the quick wit of Miriam.” 

“Miriam just about worships him,” he added. 

“We must not forget,” said Caleb, “those forty years 
when he was out in the wilderness getting acquainted 
with God.” 

“My father says everyone felt so sorry when he had 
to hide because he had killed that man who was abusing 
one of the Hebrew people, but that everyone was glad he 
did it, for it proved that he was still one of us.” 

“He is not much like that hot-headed fellow now, is he?” 
answered Caleb. 

“Those forty years away from the king’s court, out of 
doors with God were a fine postgraduate course for his 
mother’s teaching, but it was Jochebed who taught him 
first.” 


30 


“And now for our Leader and Canaan/’ cried Joshua, as 
they saw the people coming to meet them. 

Forty years had passed, and again the children of Israel 
are on the borders of Canaan. 

As they await marching orders Joshua and Caleb talk 
together. It is as though they saw a moving picture. 

“Do you remember,” asked Caleb, “the morning we car¬ 
ried the bunch of grapes to headquarters?” 

“Yes,” answered Joshua, “that was forty years ago. Not 
a man or woman is living to-day who was living then except 
you and me. Even the man we loved most and Aaron are 
gone.” 

“And you are the great leader,” said Caleb. 

“I could never have done the work that he did,” answered 
Joshua. “How strong and patient he always was!” 

“What a picture that is of the time when he raised the 
brazen serpent, that every one who looked upon it might 
be healed!” 

“And the tent of meeting, which we still have—I shall 
always see the pillar of cloud over it by day and of fire 
by night,” said Caleb. 

“I can see the people as they gather for the Passover 
supper. I am glad God has instructed that this be made 
a permanent feast forever. It is such a wonderful time,” 
mused Joshua. 

“When we left Egypt we were like one great family, but 
this man of ours has given to us a form of government, 
laws, a church, and the feasts till we are ready to be a 
great nation,” said Caleb. 

“I wish,” said Joshua, “that he might have lived to lead 
us into the holy land. He has talked to God for us so many 
times that we will not know how to get along without him. 

“Do you recall our talk about him on that long-ago day ?” 

“Yes,” replied Caleb, “and after these forty long hard 
years in the wilderness, he is the same great leader, the 
Hebrew child, the royal boy and the God man.” 

Day by Day 

Earliest Training—Exod. 2.9-16; Heb. 11.23. 

Moses’ Choice—Heb. 11.25-27. 

Call to Service—Exod. 3.1-8; 10-12. 

Slow to Say “I Will’’—Exod. 4.1-17. 

The Great Leader—Exod. 34.27-35. 

The Tables of Stone—Exod. 20.1-17. 

The Secret of Moses—Exod. 3.6-12; Exod. 4.12. 

31 


I Know 


The name of this Leader. 

The secret of his ability to be a great leader. 

Who taught him this secret. 

The story of his call to lead the Hebrew people. 

Why the children of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness. 

Do Yout 


I Can 

Tell the story of Moses in ten sentences. 

Can You? 


Memory Treasure 

True-hearted, whole-hearted, faithful and loyal, 

King of our lives, by thy grace we will be; 

Under the standard exalted and royal, 

Strong in thy strength we will battle for thee. 

Peal out the watch-word! silence it never! 

Song of our spirits, rejoicing and free; 

Peal out the watchword! loyal forever! 

King of our lives, by thy grace we will be. 

—Methodist Hymnal, 420 


32 


study VII. 

AYE, AYE, SIR! 

Samuel ! Samuel! 

Slowly Samuel rolled over. Had some one called him ? He 
had been sleeping so soundly that he was not certain. 

It did not seem as though he had heard his name. Per¬ 
haps he would better see if Eli wanted him. 

He was hardly awake yet, but he pulled himself up from 
bed and stumbled along the corridor to Eli’s door. 

Knocking softly, he asked: “Did you call me? I was 
not certain whether I heard you or not.” 

“No,” replied Eli, “you must have been dreaming. Go 
back to bed.” 

Scarcely had Samuel fallen asleep—in fact, he was not 
certain that he was asleep—when again he heard the call, 
“Samuel! Samuel!” This time there was no mistake. 
Quickly he jumped from bed and hurried to Eli’s door. All 
was quiet, but again he asked: “Did you call me? I cer¬ 
tainly heard you this time.” 

“No,” replied Eli again, “I did not call.” 

“But, I heard some one,” said Samuel. 

“Some one called ‘Samuel! Samuel!’—twice.” 

“Go to sleep,” said Eli, “I did not call.” 

The third time came the call “Samuel! Samuel!” This 
time Samuel heard the call even more distinctly. 

Reaching Eli’s door, he said, “Certainly you called me this 
time.” 

“It must be that the Lord is calling the lad,” thought Eli. 

Aloud, he said: “No, I did not call you, go back to bed 
and if the call comes again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy serv¬ 
ant heareth.’ It may be that God is calling you.” 

Slowly Samuel walked back; the corridor seemed cold. 
At his room he stopped. He was almost afraid to go in. 
Perhaps God was there. It made him shiver. But he entered 
the room and crawled under his blanket and lay down. It 
seemed very dark, and he was so far away from Eli. He 
wished he had stayed in Eli’s room, and all the time he was 
listening. Pie was not exactly afraid, but he was not sure 
that he wanted God to talk to him. 

33 


About what would God want to talk to him? He was 
only a boy. He had minded Eli and had tried to do what 
his mother wanted him to do, but God had never spoken to 
him before. 

Listen! The cold chills crept up his back. Yes, surely 
there was the call, “Samuel! Samuel!” just as before. 

His tongue was stiff. He could hardly speak, but at last 
he managed to say the words Eli had told him. 

“Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Somehow as he 
said the words the fear all left him. He knew it was all 
right if he was with God. 

The message God gave him was not an easy one for a boy. 

As he listened he thought, “I can not do that,” but all 
the time he knew he could and would. 

A boy who had been prayed for before he came into this 
world; a boy who from the time he was a baby had been 
taught to worship God; a boy who had been brought to the 
Temple, that he might better learn to serve God, could not 
fail when the time came that he was old enough to think 
and act for himself. 

God said, “Go tell Eli,” and then he told Samuel some 
very hard things that he must tell Eli. 

Samuel loved Eli and he did not want to grieve him, but 
God had said, “Tell Eli.” His mother could not tell him 
what to do about it. Eli could not help him. 

God had called him—not Eli, nor Elkanah, his father, but 
him—Samuel, and he himself must decide whether or not 
he would obey God. 

Did he? He certainly did, but that was not all. When 
God found out that he could count on Samuel to listen and 
to obey, he spoke to him frequently. 

Back in the garden of Eden God walked and talked with 
Adam and Eve. After they disobeyed him he could no 
longer talk with them face to face, and he was obliged to 
find some other way of talking with folks and of telling 
them the many things there had not been time to tell Adam 
and Eve, and of bringing to them the new things that came 
up that they needed to know. 

We hear of the prophets, the people who carried God’s 
messages to the people. They were not just like a phono¬ 
graph or radio, for when one speaks into the recording horn 
of a phonograph his exact words are recorded on the 
cylinder or record and are given out just as they are spoken. 

34 


It is the same way with broadcasting. The radio picks up 
exact words and tones. 

God sometimes spoke and the prophets received the exact 
words and gave them to the people. 

Sometimes he spoke through dreams and the voices of 
the prophets told the dreams; sometimes the prophets saw 
a vision or a picture of the thing God wanted them to tell, 
but always they were the voice or mouthpiece of God speak¬ 
ing to his children. 

But just as the radio cannot pick up the message unless 
it is properly adjusted, so a person could not catch the 
message of God unless his life was adjusted to God’s plan 
in his love for God and a desire to obey him. 

Samuel was probably only about twelve years old when 
he “listened in” on that first message from God. 

For many years the people had not been listening for 
God’s voice. Indeed, they had almost forgotten him, when 
he called a boy to be the first of a new order of voices or 
prophets, who for hundreds of years brought God’s mes¬ 
sages to his people and helped to make the world ready for 
Christ to come. 

Even before Samuel was grown to manhood God spoke 
through him many times. 

After the death of Eli he became the judge and ruler, as 
well as the prophet in Israel. 

He knew that Israel must come back to a love for God 
and obedience to his law before they could become a great 
nation. 

As the ruler, he could lead them, while as a prophet he 
taught them, speaking to them in God’s stead. 

It was Samuel who anointed the first king over Israel. 
He was big enough to do this enthusiastically even though 
in that act he himself ceased to be ruler. When that king 
proved untrue to God it was a great grief to Samuel, but 
he was true enough when God sent him to tell Saul that 
the kingdom would be taken from him, to carry the message. 

It was Samuel also whom God chose to anoint David, the 
greatest king, who because Samuel had led the people back 
to God, was able to make of Israel a great natioh. 

The people could not forget as he grew older how God 
had chosen to speak through him while he was yet a child; 
how he had grown up in the church, how fearless and loyal 
he had always been in his enthusiasm for God; how true he 

35 


had been as a judge, and how he had lived the things he 
had urged them to be and do, and they were ready to follow 
him. 

Before the time of Samuel, Israel was not really a nation; 
it seemed as though she would never be one, but under his 
leadership she became the “people of God,” ready to become 
under King David the greatest nation in the world at that 
time. 


Day by Day 

The Prayer and Promise—1 Sam. 1.16, 17. 

The Prayer Answered and the Promise Kept—1 Sam. 1.20-27. 

In the Temple—1 Sam. 2.11,18,19,26. 

Samuel’s Call to Service—1 Sam. 3.1-9. 

Samuel’s Answer—1 Sam. 3.10. 

Samuel—The Voice of God to the People—1 Sam. 12.1,2,13,18. 
Saul—1 Sam. 15.1, 10-16, 26. 

I Can Think 

What might have happened if Samuel had chosen not to listen 
when God called. 

Why God called a boy instead of a grown man. 

Can You? 


I Know 

How many kings Samuel anointed. 

What the young men who under his leadership became God’s 
speakers were called. 

How many judges there were in Israel. 

Who was the first and who the last. 

Do You? 


Memory Treasure 

O, give me Samuel’s ear, 

The open ear, 0, Lord, 

Alive and quick to hear 
Each whisper of thy word! 

Like him to answer at thy call, 

And to obey thee first of all. 

—Methodist Hymnal, 674 


36 


STUDY VIII. 

BE PREPARED 

He was a red-headed lad with a firm, clear eye. Out- 
of-door life had made his skin ruddy and wholesome looking. 

He was not very tall but was manly and of athletic build. 
He was light on his feet and a swift runner. 

It is said he was strong enough to break a steel bar. 

He was dressed in the loose undergarment of the shepherd 
with an outer coat or blanket. Round his neck was hung 
a wallet for carrying his lunch, stones for his sling, and 
other things necessary in his out-of-door life. 

In his hand was a stout staff. 

Can you see him? 

This was the David to whom Samuel whispered the great 
secret, as he poured the sacred oil on his head. 

God often sends messages to boys in one way or another, 
but they are not always so clear and definite as the message 
of Samuel. 

The secret he whispered to David, was: “God has chosen 
you to be king of Israel in Saul’s stead. Get ready.” 

Not even David’s father heard the whisper, and David 
went back to his work with the sheep, for David was a 
shepherd. The question he asked himself was, How can a 
shepherd boy get ready to be a king? 

As he sat on the hillside trying to answer that question 
he was aroused from his dreaming by an almost impercepti¬ 
ble sound. Suddenly alert, quick as a flash his eye traveled 
over his flock, for he had sensed danger. Yes, yonder 
crouches a mountain lion ready to spring. 

As he springs David also springs. At almost the same 
instant they reach the prey, the little bleating lamb. The 
lion seizes it, but down comes David’s staff in a deadly 
blow. The lion falls, and even before it ceases breathing 
David takes from its paws the lamb, still living. 

After a time he returned to the hillside thinking, “It was 
a good thing I had my club in my hand ready for that fel¬ 
low. Perhaps I had better practice jumping; that was a 
pretty long leap, and if I had not made it, I would have 
been too late.” 


37 


Then he began to sing. The farthest sheep heard his 
quieting voice as with his harp in his hand, his voice rang 
out in the words, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not 
want.” 

But he could not forget that lion entirely, and as he sang 
his mind went back to the bear which had sprung from the 
rocks weeks before. He could see it now. It was way on 
the other side of the flock. He could not leap to it, but 
there had been his trusty sling. Quickly he had fitted the 
smooth stone and hurled it crashing straight into the brain 
of that animal. 

Oh, how glad he had been as the stone left the sling that 
he knew just where it would strike! For he had practiced 
till that stone simply could not make a mistake, and uncon¬ 
sciously his song became: 

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence 
cometh my help. My help cometh from Jehovah, which 
made heaven and earth,” and he remembered his quick 
prayer for help the instant he had seen that bear. 

The shepherd life was not always so exciting. Some days 
nothing happened, some days there was the long, tiresome 
search for grass or water, or the cold rain and wind, or the 
care of a wounded sheep. 

Then came the great war. Three of David’s brothers 
were in Saul’s army. David wanted to go, but he was not 
old enough. Before this he had been called to Saul’s court 
many times that his harp might quiet Saul when an evil 
spirit came upon him. How glad David was for the long 
hours of practice on the hillside! He had little thought that 
he was getting ready to play for the king. But always he 
returned to care for his father’s flocks. 

As he went back and forth from the camp of Saul to his 
sheep he heard many rumors of the battlefield and of the 
great giant that was defying Saul’s army, the army of 
Jehovah, as it was always called in David’s home. As he 
watched the sheep he could scarcely think of anything but 
the battlefield. 

Suddenly one day he had a battlefield all his own. Almost 
without sound a lion sprang among his flock. In a flash 
the trusted stone flew from his sling. 

Had his stone killed the lion? He could not even wait 
to see, for right beside him he saw a bear just in the act 
of springing upon the sheep. Instantly he was after the bear. 

38 


The fight was over in a moment, then David looked and 
found the lion also stretched on the ground. 

Panting, excited but triumphant, David went back to his 
watch, the other battlefield forgotten for the time. 

There was no one to whom he could talk. 

No one? Oh, yes, his harp was beside him, his chum 
and daily companion. 

Listen, as he tells the story: 

“Blessed be Jehovah my rock, 

Who teacheth my hands to war, 

And my fingers to fight: 

“My loving-kindness, and my fortress, 

My high tower, and my deliverer; 

My shield, and he in whom I take refuge; 

Who subdueth my people under me. 

“I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: 

Upon a psaltery of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. 
Thou art he that giveth salvation unto kings; 

Who rescueth David his servant from the hurtful sword.” 

A few days later Jesse, his father, sent for him, and 
David, leaving his sheep with the messenger, hastened home. 

Bowing before his father, his greeting may have been, 
“Here am I, my father. You sent for me.” 

“Yes,” replied Jesse, “I must have word from my three 
sons. Take a measure of this parched corn and ten loaves 
of bread and carry them quickly to your brothers. Take 
also these ten cheeses to the captain of my sons* company. 
Find out how your brothers are and bring me word.” 

David started early in the morning. Now he could see 
for himself how the battle went and perhaps he could get 
a sight of the great giant. No need to tell him to go quickly; 
his feet would not go fast enough. 

As he neared the battlefield he heard the shout of battle, 
but as he came nearer all was quiet. What did it mean? 
He ran to find his brothers. 

“Why don't they fight?” he asked. 

The men standing near answered, “Have you not seen 
the giant that comes out every day to defy the army of 
Israel?” 

Eliab, David’s older brother heard David’s further ques¬ 
tions about the giant and was angry with him. 

“Why have you come down here?” he asked. “With 
whom have you left the sheep in the wilderness? You just 

39 


wanted to see the battle. That is why you ran off from 
your work.” 

“What have I done,” asked David, “that you are angry 
with me?” 

Then turning to another man he began talking with him. 
The men were interested and took him to Saul. 

Bowing before the king, David said, “I will go and fight 
this giant.” 

“You are but a boy,” answered Saul: “you cannot fight 
this Philistine.” 

“I was keeping my father's sheep,” answered David, “and 
when there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb from the 
flock, I smote them and rescued the lamb, then killed both 
the lion and the bear; and I will treat this heathen giant the 
same way because he has defied the army of God. 

“The God that delivered me from the paw of the lion and 
the bear will deliver me from this Philistine also.” 

“Go,” said Saul, “and God will be with you.” 

“But,” added Saul, “you must not go in that shepherd 
coat. Take my armor and my brass helmet to protect you.” 
And he clothed David with his own armor. 

David took Saul’s sword and started out. Then he stopped 
and took off the armor saying: “I cannot wear this. I have 
never worn anything of the kind, and I do not know how 
to use your sword.” 

Taking his staff in his hand, he stopped at the brook and 
picked up five smooth stones, which he put in his wallet. 
All those years on the hillside he had been making his good 
right arm strong and his body quick as he practiced and 
gained skill in the use of his sling. 

As the giant came out to meet the soldiers of Israel, his 
servant bearing his great shield before him, he saw just a 
boy, rugged and tanned. He was very angry. 

“Am I a dog, that you come out to meet me in this way?” 
And he cursed David. “Come,” he said, “and I will give 
your flesh to the birds and the beasts of the field.” 

“You come,” answered David, “with sword and with spear 
and with javelin, but I come in the name of Jehovah, our 
God. To-day will he deliver you into my hands. I will 
smite you and take off your head, and I will give your body 
to the birds and the beasts, that all may know that Jehovah 
does not need spear nor javelin; that they may know that 
there is a God on the earth.” 

40 


As the angry giant started toward him, David put his 
hand in his bag and took out a smooth stone. 

While the army of Israel watched he fitted this stone in 
his sling, swung it with his well-trained arm, gave a sudden 
spring, and hurled the stone straight to the mark between 
the giant’s eyes. 

Slowly the great giant sank to the ground. 

Quickly David sprang onto his chest, and, drawing out 
the great sword, cut off the head of the giant. 

A mighty shout arose as the army of Israel started toward 
the camp of the Philistines, who seeing their champion thus 
slain, fled before them. 

It was many years after this that David became the great¬ 
est king Israel ever had, and many centuries after that that 
we read and love and are helped by the beautiful psalms 
he sang out there on the hillside, where he found out for 
himself that the teaching of his home was true, that the 
Lord was his Shepherd, that Jehovah did help, protect, and 
save him. 


Day by Day 

The Secret—1 Sam. 16.1-13. 

The Giant—1 Sam. 17.1-12. 

The Errand Boy—1 Sam. 17.17-22. 

The Lion and the Bear—1 Sam. 17.28-29. 

The Victory—1 Sam. 17.40-58. 

Another Secret—Psa. 144.1-16. 

The Great Shepherd—Psa. 23. Psa. 121.1 and 2. 


You and I Know 

That David was getting ready to be Israel’s best king in making 
his body strong in his out of door life. 

By becoming very brave and courageous as he protected his 
sheep from the wild beasts. 

By becoming a skilled player on the harp. 

By practicing till he was perfect in the use of his sling, could 
hurl it to a hair’s breadth. 


41 


I Know 


Another way in which David was getting ready to be Israel' 
greatest king and our great helper. 

Do You? 


Memory Treasure 

Lead on, O, King Eternal, 

The day of march has come; 

Henceforth in fields of conquest 
Thy tents shall be our home. 

Through days of preparation 
Thy grace has made us strong, 

And now O, King Eternal, 

We lift our battle song. 

—Methodist Hymnal, 408 


42 


STUDY IX. 

I CAN DO IT 

There are at least twenty words in the Hebrew lan¬ 
guage for “idols.” The eight-year-old King Josiah saw 
these idols as he walked up and down the streets. 

On one hill he saw the marble and golden images of the 
gods, on another the altars to the great god Baal, on another 
the image of Ashteroth. 

The temple at Jerusalem had been turned into a head¬ 
quarters for the worship of Baal. Those entering this and 
other places of idol worship jumped over the threshold as 
was done in heathen countries. 

For seventy years the people had been compelled to wor¬ 
ship idols because their kings did. The law of Jehovah was 
forgotten and the books of the law were lost. One of the 
kings had tried to destroy every copy of the law. 

And the new king was eight years old. What could you 
expect ? 

Listen: his mother’s name was Jedidiah, “the beloved of 
God,” and his grandfather’s name meant “honored of God,” 
and in those days the meaning of names counted. 

Over in the book of Luke we read that at the age of 
twelve Jesus went up to Jerusalem to the feast of the Pass- 
over and decided that it was time for him to be about his 
Father’s business, and in II Chronicles we read that Josiah 
was eight years old when he began to reign and that he 
did right in the sight of God. That in the eighth year of 
his reign, while he was yet young he began to seek the God 
of David. 

The people, many of them, had never heard of the true 
worship of Jehovah; many of the officers of the kingdom 
were determined to keep the worship of the kingdom idola¬ 
try, and the king was so young he could not work very 
rapidly. 

When he had been crowned king no copy of the law (the 
book of Deuteronomy, or perhaps the five books of the law) 
could be found to be placed on his head, which was the law 
for crowning the kings of Jehovah, so he was crowned just 
as an idol-worshiping king. 

43 


He may not even have known the difference. How could 
he when all he knew of the law of Jehovah was what he 
learned from the few people who were true to him? 

We said he was fortunate in having a mother whose name 
meant “beloved of God.” He was also fortunate in having 
three prophets, Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, who 
were speaking for God at the time he was made king, and 
Jeremiah, who was about his own age and began to be one 
of God’s mouthpieces about the same time that Josiah sought 
God or began his work of bringing the kingdom back to 
the worship of Jehovah. 

Josiah certainly was in a hard place. Things seemed to be 
going from bad to worse. 

When God called Jeremiah to speak for him he answered, 
“Alas, O Lord, I know not how to speak; I am too young,” 
but God replied: “Say not I am too young, for thou shalt 
go to all to whom I shall send thee and shalt say all that I 
command thee. Be not afraid, for I am with thee.” 

“Be not afraid, for I am with thee,” must have been his 
commission to the twenty-year-old king also. 

Well he knew that whatever the king did the people must 
do, even though in the end they might rise up and kill him; 
but Josiah did not seem to think of that. The signs of idol 
worship that he saw all about him must first be destroyed. 

He organized what might be called a “wrecker’s associa¬ 
tion” and sent them out all over the land. Their orders 
were, “Destroy every symbol of idol worship. Tear down 
altars, break up images; wreck and utterly wipe out every¬ 
thing in any way connected with idols.” One company of 
these wreckers were assigned to Hilkiah, the high priest, 
with orders to carry out from the Temple every altar, statue, 
vestment and vessel used in the worship of Baal and not 
only to remove these but to have a great bonfire and burn 
them. 

All worship of idols was also stopped. Priests who had 
assisted in the heathen worship were deposed from the 
priesthood. The sacred white horses of the sun were 
burned, the altars on the roofs of the houses were burned 
and the ashes thrown into the brook Hedron. At last the 
whole land looked as though it were a God-worshiping land, 
even the high places which Solomon had built around Jeru¬ 
salem for the worship of heathen gods, and which had not 
been destroyed even by the good kings, were gone. 

44 


While Josiah was thus trying to wipe out the worship of 
idols, Jeremiah the prophet was trying to show the people 
that their worship was all form and did not mean anything 
and to help them realize that a nation that does not worship 
Jehovah must be entirely destroyed. 

Under the direction of Hilkiah, the Temple was cleaned 
out and was nearly rebuilt by the time Josiah was twenty- 
six years old. 

For the repairing of the Temple money chests had been 
placed where the people could bring a free-will offering. 

One of these was filled, and as the priests emptied it they 
discovered in the bottom of the chest an old manuscript 
roll. How many years it had been hidden they could not 
tell, but they hastened with it to Hilkiah, who instantly 
recognized it as the Book of the Law. 

Knowing its value, Hilkiah put it at once in the hands of 
Shaphan the king's scribe, or secretary, telling him not to 
lose a moment in carrying the great news to the king. The 
king ordered the book to be read to him. 

As Shaphan read, Josiah was overwhelmed with awe and 
grief, for this was the first time he had heard the words of 
the Law, and he began to realize that because the kings of 
Judah had not known and obeyed those laws great calamities 
had come upon his people and that still greater ones would 
come. 

What .could he do? First, he must know if he rightly 
understood the words that had been read to him. He con¬ 
sulted not Zephaniah or Nahum, not even Jeremiah who 
lived at some distance, but went to a prophetess Huldah, 
who stood at the head of the prophets in Jerusalem. “Will 
the nation really have to suffer all that the law says, because 
it has left the worship of Jehovah?" was his question, “or is 
there still hope?" 

“Judah has purposely left God—sinned so greatly by her 
idol worship that she will be destroyed," answered Huldah; 
“but because you have so wholly tried to follow Jehovah 
and lead the people back to him, ever since you were eight 
years old, this destruction will not come in your time." 

Was Josiah discouraged? Did he give up? Not a bit 
of it. That was one advantage of having become a follower 
of Jehovah when he was a boy. He could not give up. He 
had to stand by the thing he believed and had lived for. 

He was grieved, but he said: “These people don't know. 

45 


We look and act as though we were worshiping Jehovah, but 
there are many things even about our worship that we did 
not know, and I must lead my people back into the real 
worship of Jehovah.” 

One of the first things he did was to send messages all 
over the country calling the people to Jerusalem to observe 
the feast of the Passover at the time that the Book of the 
Law said the feast must be observed. 

The Temple was now repaired. The priests and Levites, 
who according to the book of the Law had special duties in 
caring for the Temple—had been carefully instructed. 

The people were told just how the Passover lamb must 
be killed when the time came, and how it was to be prepared. 
How they themselves must bathe and be sanctified in order 
that the law of Moses might be perfectly observed. 

The people came to Jerusalem in crowds; many, however, 
had not understood the instructions sent them and brought 
neither lamb nor kid. The young king was ready for this; 
30,000 lambs and kids from his own flock were distributed 
to those in need, or those who could not afford to buy 
their own, and during the seven-day feast following, three 
thousand bullocks were furnished from the royal pasture. 
The priests and members of the court gave many more. 

The evening before the Passover, found everything in 
readiness. The priests in white robes were at their post 
near the altar. At sunset the Passover lamb was slain 
according to directions. The part for offering was brought 
to the priests, the rest was cooked for the Passover supper, 
which was eaten according to the directions found in the 
Book of the Law. 

During the seven days of this feast, priests and Levites 
were on duty constantly, one course relieving another for a 
few hours. Neither the temple choir nor watchers of the 
gate could leave the temple. Their meals were brought 
to them by the Levites. 

The feast was kept exactly according to the Law of 
Moses, as it had not been kept since the days of Samuel. 
The people felt the influence of this worship. Many were 
ready to return to a worship of God and renew their cove¬ 
nant. Many others, however, felt that they had been forced 
by the king to this service. They were still worshipers 
of idols in their hearts, so as a nation, the covenant could 
not be renewed as Josiah had hoped. 

46 


The eighty-first Psalm is perhaps a story of the wav 
someone expressed the feelings of the king and God about 
this great feast through which Josiah had hoped that Judah 
might be brought back to God. 

“My people would not hearken to my voice, 

Israel was not willing to obey me, 

So I gave them over to walk in their own counsels.” 


Day by Day 

The New King—2 Kings 22.1-2. 

A Good Foundation—2 Chron. 34.3. 

The Wreckers—2 Chron. 34.4-8. 

Finding the Book of the Law—2 Chron. 34.14-19. 
The Law Read Before the People—2 Kings 23.1-3. 
The Passover Kept —2 Chron. 35.11-18. 

The Secret of Josiah’s Success —2 Chron. 34.2. 

/■ 


Do You Know 

Of which kingdom Josiah was king? 

How he went to work to restore the worship of the true God? 
How old he was when he began to seek the Lord? 

What is meant by seeking the Lord? 

What he did with the book of the law when it was found? 

I Do 


47 


Think About It 

Why was Josiah a different kind of a king from his father? 


Memory Treasure 

Soldiers of Christ, arise, 

And put your armor on, 

Strong in the strength which God supplies 
Through his eternal Son; 

Strong in the Lord of hosts, 

And in his mighty power, 

Who in the strength of Jesus trusts 
Is more than conqueror. 


48 


—Methodist Hymnal, 382 


study X. 

THE BOY—AND THE MAN 

“Do you think he will do it?” 

“Do it? Never!” 

“What is this he will not do?” asked Shadrach, as he 
joined Meshach and Abednego, “and who will not?” 

“Greetings, Shadrach! Where have you been these many 
days?” asked Meshach. 

“We were just speaking of this new decree of the king, 
and Abednego was wondering what Daniel would do about 
it.” 

“Decree? I have not heard of any decree.” 

“Not heard of it?” said Meshach, “Well, you must have 
been out of the world. Listen, ‘Whosoever shall ask a peti¬ 
tion of any God, or any man, for thirty days, save of thee, 
O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions’; and, see, it is 
signed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, 
which cannot be changed. What do you think of that?” 

“Do you mean the king signed that?” asked Shadrach. 

“He certainly did.” 

“But does he not know Daniel?” asked Shadrach. And 
then he added: “He has seemed friendly to him. I do not 
know what the king will do, but I do know what Daniel 
will do. He will pray to Jehovah three times a day, just 
as he has always done.” 

“That is a sure thing,” said Meshach, “but I could wish 
he would chance to close his door, for it is Daniel they are 
after I am certain.” 

“You are right about that, Shadrach, but that is not 
Daniel’s way. He is no coward.” 

“True,” said Shadrach, “but we cannot afford to lose 
Daniel; and think of those lions.” 

“Lion, or no lions, Daniel will never back down—not one 
inch,” said Abednego. 

“I will never forget the first time the king called for him 
to interpret his dream,” said Meshach. 

“His dream?” said Shadrach. “It was not only a dream. 
You remember that he first called in the sorcerers, the magi¬ 
cians, and the Chaldeans.” 


49 


“Yes,” said Meshach, “and the leaders, said: ‘O king, 
live forever. Tell us your dream and we will show you 
what it means/ But the king said, ‘The dream is gone 
from me; I cannot remember it; you must tell me both the 
dream and the interpretation, and I will give you great 
gifts/ How angry the king was when they replied to him 
that no ruler or lord had ever asked any such a thing from 
any magician or enchanter!” 

“Yes,” said Shadrach, “and he ordered that every wise 
man in Babylon should be killed, and we and Daniel were 
in the crowd.” 

“That was a time when Daniel saved our lives,” said Me¬ 
shach. 

“I will never forget how he came into the house and 
asked us to pray with him that God would tell him the dream 
and the interpretation.” 

“I can see Daniel now,” said Meshach, “as he went in be¬ 
fore the king. He was not much more than a boy, and yet 
how strong and brave he stood, when he said, ‘No wise 
man or soothsayer can show this dream to the king, but 
there is a God in heaven who can reveal it !’ ” 

“That was a great dream,” said Meshach, “but it certainly 
took courage to tell the king, about the kingdom which 
Jehovah, our God, would set up on the earth. Daniel is 
all right.” 

“Oh, but that did not take the courage that it did to inter¬ 
pret that other dream,” exclaimed Meshach. 

“Which?” asked Abraham, who was standing near. 

“Don’t you remember the one about the great tree that 
reached to heaven ?” answered Meshach. 

“Oh, yes,” said Abraham, “the tree that could be seen to 
the ends of the earth, the one from which everyone could 
be fed, the people and the birds, and all.” 

“And the king saw a watcher from heaven,” interrupted 
Shadrach, “who said to him: ‘Hew down the tree, and cut 
off its branches, shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit; 
let the beasts get away from under it and the fowls from 
its branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump of its roots in 
the earth, in the tender grass of the fields’—but you know 
it all.” 

“I tell you, Daniel was troubled at that time,” said Me¬ 
shach. “He did not want to tell the king.” 

50 


“It was an awful thing to have to tell a king that he would 
become crazy and live with the beasts of the field and eat 
grass for his food, for seven years, until he should learn 
that Jehovah is God.” 

“But he did it just the same,” said Shadrach. 

“That shows what Daniel is made of,” said Meshach. 

“That is all right,” said Abenego, “but by that time Daniel 
must have known Nebuchadnezzar pretty well. I think it 
was with young King Belshazzar that Daniel had the hard¬ 
est work to do. That young man was so wild and reckless, 
he did not seem to have any reverence for anyone. He was 
not one bit like his father.” 

“Right you are,” said Meshach. 

“Then came that night of the great feast,” continued 
Abednego, “with a thousand of his lords present. They 
were all merry with wine and feasting.” 

“That was the time,” interrupted Shadrach, “that Bel¬ 
shazzar sent for the gold and silver vessels which Nebu¬ 
chadnezzar, his father, had brought from the Temple in 
Jerusalem, at the time he brought us, and they even dared 
to drink wine from those sacred vessels.” 

“True,” said Abednego, “and then,” in an odd tone, 
“suddenly that hand without arm or body began writing on 
the wall.” 

“Ugh! Imagine seeing just the hand writing words which 
no one understood. No wonder they were all frightened. 
I will never forget those words,” said Abraham —“Mene 
Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” 

“But think,” said Abednego, “of standing in that crowd 
of one thousand lords and telling a king of that kind, that, 
because he had been so boastful and foolish, and because he 
had lived contrary to God’s law, his kingdom should be 
taken away from him. That he had been weighed and found 
wanting. It is a wonder that Daniel was not killed on the 
spot.” 

“That is all right,” said Abraham, “but what about you 
fellows ? It seems to me that some one else has done about 
as good a job in this line as Daniel. I believe I would just 
about as soon be chewed up by lions as to walk into a fiery 
furnace.” 

“Oh, but we are not talking about that,” said Shadrach, 
“It is Daniel they are after this time. I do not believe they 
are even watching us.” 

51 


“I was just going to say,” said Abednego, “that you have 
not, any of you, struck the time that I will never forget. 
It was that day, way back there when we were boys and 
had just reached the king’s palace.” 

“Yes,” said Shadrach, “I remember how big and strange 
it looked and how homesick and scared we were. We just 
did not know what would happen next.” 

“What a wonder that dining room was,” said Abednego, 
“with all the glass and the silver, and the tapestries! I can 
see those tables yet.” 

“I can see Daniel too,” said Meshach, “as he stood there 
and would not touch the wines and the rich food. My! but 
he looked strong and brave, as he turned to Melzar and said, 
‘We cannot eat this food.’ ” 

“Melzar did not know what to make of him,” said Shad¬ 
rach, “for that was the food the king had ordered for us, 
and when Daniel asked, ‘May we not have the kind of food 
our mothers gave us—the kind that would be pleasing to 
Jehovah, our God?’ he just looked at Daniel.” 

“Poor Melzar,” said Shadrach, “he could not say ‘yes/ 
for his head would have come right off if the king had found 
us with white faces or sick when he came to look us over.” 

“Go on,” said Abraham, “I have never heard this story 
before.” 

“You see,” said Shadrach, “the king had had us brought 
from Judea to be trained for his service in the army and had 
ordered that we be fed from his table, but we knew that we 
ought not to eat that food. The king’s orders made no 
difference to Daniel. He knew what was right and he stood 
his ground.” 

“Do you know,” said Abednego, “I believe that that is 
what our homes way back there in Judea did for us? We 
knew Jehovah from the time we knew anything, and some¬ 
how his worship and what he would have us do were a part 
of our very lives.” 

“Living in this country all of these years,” said Shad¬ 
rach, “this country where they do not know and worship 
Jehovah, has not made a bit of difference, has it?” 

“But what about Daniel?” said Abraham. 

“Oh, it was great,” said Shadrach, “though I confess I 
was a bit scared when he threw out that challenge. ‘Try 
us on vegetables, and if at the end of ten days we are not 
just as strong and well as the other boys, we will eat just 

52 


what you want us to/ That, I think, was the greatest thing 
Daniel ever did.” 

“You’re right,” said Abednego, then after a minute, “I 
never thought of it before, but I wonder what would have 
happened if Daniel had not taken his stand that day.” 

They were all quiet for a few moments, then Abednego 
said, thoughtfully, “I do not believe Jehovah would have 
had the chance to make of him the great man that he is 
to-day. 

“Or that Daniel would have had the opportunity to lead 
the kings of this heathen nation to worship Jehovah as he 
has,” added Shadrach. 

“He will pray to God three times a day,” said Shadrach. 

“And with his window open toward Jerusalem, just as he 
has always done,” said Meshach. 

And he did. 


Day by Day 

Daniel’s Purpose—Dan. 1.8-20. 

The Forgotten Dream—Dan. 2.1-9; 13-20; 26-45. 

Another Dream—Dan. 4.4-5 ; 10-16; 24-28. 

The Writing on the Wall—Dan. 5.1-8, 13-17, 25-31. 

The Conspiracy—Dan. 6.1-16. 

The Secret of Daniel’s Life—Dan. 9.19; Psa. 5.8; 1.7; 18-23. 


I Know 

During the reign of how many kings Daniel lived. (Dan. 1.1— 
Dan. 5.1; Dan. 5.31—Dan. 6.28.) 

What Nebuchadnezzar and Darius said about Daniel’s God. (Dan 
4.34; Dan. 6.25-26). 

Do You? 


Think About It 
Who gave Daniel his start? 


53 


Daniel Could—Can I? 


\ 


Memory Treasure 
BE STRONG! 

Say not the days are evil—who’s to 
And fold the hands and acquiesce- 
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in 


blame ? 

-O, shame! 
God’s name. 


54 




STUDY XI. 

TRIED AND TRUE 

She was such a tiny girl, scarcely more than a baby. She 
did not know what had happened, only mother was not 
there. Cousin Mordecai was good to her, but he wasn’t 
mother; and she wanted daddy too. It was not like home 
anyway. Every day Cousin Mordecai carried her most all 
day, and at night they slept with their clothes on in a tent, 
and there were soldiers everywhere. 

Esther did not know it then, but King Nebuchadnezzar 
had sent a great army against Jerusalem. They had broken 
down the walls, killed Esther’s father and mother, and many 
whole families, and now Mordecai, Esther, and many others 
were prisoners and were being carried to the king’s palace in 
Shushan. 

Mordecai had loved Baby Esther, and, when he saw the 
soldiers coming he had tried to hide her, but a soldier had 
caught him, and here they were. All through that hot, tire¬ 
some journey he tried to be mother and father to the baby, 
and she grew to love him dearly. 

When they reached Babylon they were not treated like 
prisoners. The boys were sent to school, some of the men 
and women became servants in the palace, and others had 
their own homes and worked under the king’s officers. 

Mordecai was given a house of his own and was made a 
gate-keeper in the king’s palace. He adopted Esther, and 
she grew up as his daughter and was trained in the worship 
of the true God. 

As she grew to girlhood she was very beautiful. When 
she was between twelve and sixteen years old, probably not 
much over twelve, the King Ahasuerus put away his chosen 
queen and sent his officers out to select the most beautiful 
girls from among whom he might select a new queen. 

Esther was one of the girls chosen, and when she was 
brought before the king he loved her and made her his 
queen, but Esther did not let any one know her nationality 
nor her relationship to Mordecai. 

Mordecai knew that some in the kingdom hated the 
Jews and had told her not to let any one know that she 
was a Jew. 


55 


One day Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, came to 
Esther saying, “Mordecai is standing in front of the gate 
clothed in sackcloth. He is throwing ashes on his head and 
crying out something about the Jews.” 

“Go,” said Esther, “and find out what it means, what is 
troubling him. Take him this new clothing and tell him to 
put it on.” 

Hatach did so and returned saying, “Mordecai will not 
change his raiment, for a decree has gone out from the king, 
under the direction of Haman, that on a certain day all of 
the Jews in the province shall be killed.” 

“Here,” added Hatach, “is a copy of the decree which 
Mordecai sent to you.” 

Esther read the decree, and looking at Hatach asked, 
“Can nothing be done?” 

“Mordecai,” said Hatach, “says that you must go before 
the king and plead for the lives of your people.” 

“Does not Mordecai know,” asked Esther, “that that is 
impossible ? Go, remind him that every one knows that who¬ 
soever goes unbidden into the king’s presence shall be put 
to death, unless he extend the golden scepter, and I have not 
been called into the inner court for thirty days. I cannot 
go” 

Hatach carried the message, and Mordecai sternly replied: 
“Ask Esther if she thinks she will escape if the Jews are 
killed? Tell her that if she does not speak to the king, both 
she and all of her family will be slain.” 

“Tell her too that even though she perishes, God will in 
some way deliver his people, but that the great honor of 
helping him will go to some one else.” 

Esther was only a girl; she was beautiful and lived in all 
the luxury of the king’s palace. Could she give it up, and 
perhaps even lose her life? 

Then came the words of Mordecai, “God has given you 
this chance.” True, she was a queen, but she was also one 
of God’s family. 

The words she had learned in the home of Mordecai 
came to her: “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” 
“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the ever¬ 
lasting arms.” 

Rising, she said: “Go to Mordecai. Say to him, ‘Go 
gather together all of the Jews that are in Shushan, fast and 
pray for me for three days.’ Tell him also that I and my 

56 


maidens will likewise fast and pray. Then I will go to the 
king, and if I perish, I perish.” 

When Hatach carried this word to Mordecai he did as 
Esther had commanded. 

At the end of three days Esther called her maidens. 
“Dress me in my most beautiful royal robe,” she said. 
“Make me in every way as beautiful as a person can be. 
This will please the king, and I must help God by doing my 
part.” 

As Esther entered the inner court the king sat upon his 
throne. As he saw Esther her beauty pleased him, and he 
extended the royal scepter. She drew near and touched the 
tip of the scepter, which was the proper thing for her to do. 

“What wilt thou, Queen Esther?” asked the king, “and 
what is your request? It shall be given you, even to the 
half of my kingdom.” 

“If it seems good to you,” answered Esther, “will you 
and Haman come today to a banquet that I have prepared 
for you?” 

“Tell Haman to make haste,” said the king to his cham¬ 
berlain, “that we may accept the invitation of Esther.” 

At the conclusion of the banquet the king again asked: 
“What is your request ? It shall be given you. What is 
your petition? To the half of my kingdom it shall be 
granted you.” 

This surely was Esther’s opportunity, but the God to 
whom Esther had been praying whispered, “Not yet, 
Esther,” and she answered: “If I have found favor in 
your sight, may I ask that you and Haman come to the 
banquet which I will prepare to-morrow, and then will I 
make my request known.” 

That night God sent troubled dreams to the king. He 
could not sleep, and he remembered that at one time Mor¬ 
decai had saved his life and that he had never been re¬ 
warded ; so that when he went to Esther’s banquet the next 
day he was feeling very kindly toward the Jewish people. 

This time when the king said, “What is thy petition and 
what thy request, Queen Esther?” she replied, “O, king, let 
my life and the life of my people be given me at my request.” 

Then she told him the story of Haman’s hatred of Mor¬ 
decai and of his plan to kill all the Jews, but mentioned no 
names. 


57 


The king was very angry and asked, “Who is this man?” 

Esther replied, “An adversary, an enemy, even this wicked 
man Haman.” 

Then indeed was the king very angry and ordered that 
Haman be hanged. He sent for Mordecai and gave to him 
the office which Haman had held. 

Again Esther entered the king’s court and again the 
scepter was extended. 

Esther bowed before the king saying, “If I have found 
favor in your sight, if it please the king, will he reverse 
the writing of Haman, for how can I endure to see all of 
my people slain?” 

Then the king, while he could not according to the law of 
the country reverse the law once made—instructed Mor¬ 
decai in a plan to save the Jews and made Mordecai the 
ruler next to himself. 

The Jews were saved, and to Esther belonged the great 
honor of thus helping God. 

Day by Day 

Esther Chosen Queen—Esth. 2.1-9; 15-17. 

Mordecai Discovers a Plot Against the King—Esth. 2.21-23. 

Haman—Esther, Chapter 3. 

Mordecai’s Message to Esther—Esther, Chapter 4. 

Esther’s Intercession—Esth. 5.1-8; 7.1-6. 

The Jews Delivered—Esther, Chapter 8. 

I Know 

How Mordecai saved the king’s life. 

The joke on Haman. 

How the Jews were saved. 

Why Mordecai was sure he could count on Esther. 

Do You? 


Memory Treasure 

Be strong! We are not here to play, to dream, to drift, 
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift. 

Shun not the struggle, face it, ’tis God’s gift, 

Be strong, be strong! 


58 


—Methodist Hymnal, 407 


STUDY XII. 

I MUST 

“Jesus ! Jesus!” 

How strange such a call would sound! It would seem 
to us like profanity, and yet Mary may have called Jesus in 
this way many times, for that was his name, as George or 
Frank is yours, or she may have called him by his other 
name, Immanuel. 

It is the boy whose name is Jesus of whom we are 
speaking. 

How did he look? 

A good deal like you if you are twelve or thirteen years 
old. He was about your height and weight, with dark hair 
and eyes. He could outwalk you and probably outrun you. 
His clothes would look a bit queer to us, but ours would to 
him. His hair probably was long. He usually went bare¬ 
headed and barefooted except for toe-sandals which he wore 
out of doors. His outer garment was sleeveless and came 
to his knees. It may have been white or brown. Under this 
outer garment he wore what was called a praying shawl, 
which was made with an opening in the center, and right 
here is where he began to be different. 

At each corner of the shawl was a fringe or tassel, and 
for each tassel he had when a very little boy learned a 
prayer. He must never put the shawl on without saying 
one of these prayers. He wore the shawl to help him re¬ 
member to pray. 

Let us go to his house early in the morning. Mother 
calls, “Jesus, it is time to get up.” 

He rolls over on the bright-colored rug which is his bed, 
stretches, and in time sits up, then with a yawn gets to his 
feet. 

No; he is a Jew and the moment he awakens, his first 
thought is of God and he “says Good-morning to God,” 
before he leaves his bed. For this he has a special prayer. 

The Rabbis at the time Jesus was a boy had put many 
ceremonies and prayers into the Jewish religion and Jesus, 
as a Jewish boy, must observe these even before he is 
ready for the family worship which comes before either 
work or breakfast. 


59 


The morning worship over, Jesus must make his bed, 
which is just to fold or roll his mat neatly and place it on 
the shelf which extends around the room. Next he helps 
the younger children make their beds, and pulls the table 
to the center of the room for breakfast. 

If you had no newspapers, storybooks, games, or play¬ 
things, what do you suppose you would think about or talk 
about, or do with yourself ? 

When Jesus went to the table to eat, his father and 
mother talked about the Temple services, the Bible 
stories, the caravans that passed through the town, the 
next feast, and frequently taught the children Bible 
verses. 

Breakfast over, came school. Here were no books 
but there were “slates.” These were small boards, and 
on them the teacher had printed in the Hebrew or in the 
Greek, the words of the Bible texts to be learned, for 
the Book of the Law was their Reader. 

Day after day these verses were learned till a Jewish 
boy knew by heart a large part of the Books of the Law 
and the Prophets. 

A queer school? You would have thought so if you 
could have heard them learning their lessons, all repeat¬ 
ing the words at the top of their voices as they sat on the 
floor in a semicircle, with the teacher in the center. 

After school Jesus and Joseph, John, James, and the 
others might go for a hike into the hills to watch the 
sower as he sowed the seed, or the vine dresser as he 
pruned the grape vines, or they may have gone farther 
to gather the wild lilies, or perhaps they played ball or 
spun tops or had a procession, which was a favorite game. 

There were many holidays in the school which Jesus 
attended. Every week there was the Jewish Sabbath and 
one day to get ready for it. Then every few weeks there 
was some feast lasting from one day to over a week, so 
that to Jesus a holiday meant a go-to-church day. The 
greatest of these was the feast of the Passover held every 
year, in Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph attended this each 
year, but Jesus did not go with them till he was twelve 
years old. 

It was a great trip for a boy who had never been away 
from home. To a thoughtful Jewish boy it was more 
than that, it was the time when all the teachings of his 

60 


father, all of the worship of the home and all the feasts 
seemed to have a new meaning. 

When he was a baby he had been taken to the Temple 
just as nowadays babies are taken to the church to be 
baptized, and, as the baptized babies are then members of 
the church, so he became a member of the Jewish Church. 
But as you when you are older join the church in full 
membership, so Jesus and every other Jewish boy when 
twelve or thirteen years old, became a son of the law, or 
a full member of the Jewish Church, and was looked upon 
as a man in the church. 

Of course he thought of this as he went toward Jerusa¬ 
lem. Then, every place through which they passed had 
some story that his father had told him again and again. 
There were new birds and flowers to see, streams to 
cross, and every few hours people from other towns 
joined them. 

On the afternoon of the fourth day they came in sight 
of Jerusalem, the city about which Jesus had dreamed 
for years. There, shining in the sunlight, was the won¬ 
derful Temple, with its dome of pure gold. For a few mo¬ 
ments he looked without speaking, then turning to his 
father, he said: “It looks just as you said it would only 
more beautiful. Is the Holy of holies at this end?” 

“Yes,” replied his father, “and next comes the holy 
place.” 

“And yonder is the court of Israel,” continued Jesus, 
“and to the front is the great altar.” For some time 
Jesus stood as he and his father talked of the coming 
feast and Joseph pointed out the different places in the 
city. 

His father had been his teacher before he went to 
school, and all through his school life had been the 
teacher in the home, so to Jesus he was both his best 
friend and a great man, whose honor and love was shared 
only with Mary his mother. 

The great day of the feast was at hand. They must be 
in Jerusalem by sunset, for with the Jews the day began with 
the sunset of the evening instead of at sunrise. 

The feast with all of its joy and its worship passed. 
At some point Jesus with the other boys who Were to 
become sons of the law, had been received into full 

61 


membership in the Jewish Church and had had the phy¬ 
lacteries placed about their necks. 

Jesus knew that this would mean new responsibilities 
in the church at home, and he was greatly interested in 
finding out all that he could about the services and wor¬ 
ship in the great Temple at Jerusalem. 

In one of the courts rabbis held sort of informal schools 
where anyone who came to the feast might go to ask 
questions or just listen. These were great places to the 
boy Jesus who wanted to know so many things. Many 
of those at the feast left after the first three days because 
the crowd was so great. On account of the heat they 
would begin their journey at night. 

One night the people from Nazareth started for home. 
In the darkness and the crowd it was hard to tell whether 
all were there or not. 

As they traveled first one group and then another 
moved off in various directions. As the crowd grew less 
Mary missed Jesus, but probably thought he was with 
his father. Joseph too missed him but some one said, “I 
am sure he is with his cousins,” so they did not realize 
that he was not with them till it came time to camp for 
the night and they began to look for him. When they 
found that he really was missing they hurried back to 
Jerusalem to find him. 

Jesus probably had been with friends and did not real¬ 
ize that they had gone, as there were so many people in 
Jerusalem. Then, too, he was now a son of the law, and 
he had been allowed to go about alone or with his friends. 

It was not easy to find any one in such a crowd, but 
after searching for more than a day his parents found 
him, where he had been spending much of his time—in 
one of those schools in the Temple. 

His mother was so rejoiced to find him that she cried 
out: “Son, why have you done this? Your father and 
I have been very anxious as we have hunted for you.” 

Jesus seemed to be surprised, as though he may not 
have known that they had left Jerusalem, for he says, 
“Don’t you know I must be in my Father’s house?” 

That was what becoming a son of the law had meant 
to him. He now belonged to God and must learn more 
of his Father’s work. 

To-day we would say he had decided to belong to God 

62 


and had joined his church, so he must learn to do his 
will and his work. 

This was a great time in his life, and he may have 
wanted to stay longer in Jerusalem but he returned to 
Nazareth with his parents and found that the first work 
God had for him was to “do those things which his par¬ 
ents thought best” so that he might grow in wisdom and 
in stature and in favor with God and man. Some one 
has said he studied Greek but obeyed his parents. This 
was God’s way for him to be ready when God had other 
work for him to do. 


Day by Day 

The First Christmas—Luke 2.8-20. 

Becoming a Member of the Jewish Church—Luke 2.21-39. 
The Boy, Christ—Luke 2.40. 

A Full Member of the Church—Luke 2.41-49. 

What This Meant to Jesus—Luke 2.49 and 51. 

Getting Ready—Luke 2.52. 

Listening In—1 Sam. 3.10. 


I Can 

Draw a picture of Jesus* home. 

Begin my day as he did. 

Become the kind of a son of the law that Jesus did. 
Draw a picture of the Temple. 

Can You? 


63 


I Know 

What becoming a son of the law meant to Jesus. 

What God and mother would like to have it mean to you. 
Do You? 


Jesus Said I Must 


What about me? 


Memory Treasure 

O, Jesus, I have promised, 

To serve thee to the end; 

Be thou forever near me, 

My Master and my Friend; 

I shall not fear the battle 
If thou art by my side, 

Nor wander from the pathway 
If thou wilt be my guide. 

—Methodist Hymnal, 350 

64 













